George Osborne’s plan to withdraw child benefits from families with a higher
rate taxpayer was lambasted as “bizarre and economically damaging” by one of
the country’s most respected think-tanks.

The Institute for Fiscal
Studies published an analysis showing that the “ill-considered” way in
which the proposals were being implemented could prompt hundreds of
thousands of families voluntarily to lower their incomes or forego pay rises
in order to preserve their benefits.

The measure will mean that a household with one person earning just above the
higher-rate tax threshold will lose their child benefit, whereas a household
with two people earning